Learned Optimism 101

Learned Optimism is an approach to self-improvement invented by American psychologist, Doctor Martin Seligman and described in his book, Learned Optimism (1990). Seligman argues for the benefits of an optimistic outlook and describes how to learn to be optimistic.

Beliefs impact outcomes
Having a positive set of beliefs and attitudes as an individual and as a team member is a key aspect of Bioteams. I was particularly impressed by Seligman's work on Learned Optimism and referred to it both in The Bioteaming Manifesto and The Bioteams book.

Learned Optimism in a paragraph
Seligman characterises the three main differences between pessimists and optimists in terms of how they rationalise "set-backs":

Permanence: Optimists point to specific temporary causes for negative events; pessimists point to permanent causes.

Pervasiveness: Optimistic people compartmentalize helplessness, whereas pessimistic people assume that failure in one area of life means failure in life as a whole.

Learned Optimism in a single sentence!The optimist's outlook on failure is "What happened was unlucky (not personal), a temporary setback (not permanent) and just for one of my goals (not pervasive)".

Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
Here is a short self-assessment questionnaire from Stanford University which you can take to see your scores in terms of Permanence, Pervasiveness and Personalization and your overall score.

One of the main dilemmas for team leaders and members is the thorny issue of responsibility. We often fixate on the problem of leaders and members not taking enough responsibility but according to Dr Scott Peck they can also do damage if they try to take too much!